Kotick: Old Republic a win for George Lucas, not EA

Well, if nothing else EA can at least take this as proof that Activision is nervous about Star Wars: The Old Republic.

EA's upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic is seen by some as the first real contender to World of Warcraft's subscription MMO crown. Not that Bobby Kotick agrees.

In fact, the Activision Blizzard chief executive devoted a fair amount of his Reuters Media Summit talk yesterday to attacking his big corporate rival, and in particular its new MMO.

"[George] Lucas is going to be the principal beneficiary of the success of Star Wars," Kotick stated. "We've been in business with Lucas for a long time and the economics will always accrue to the benefit of Lucas, so I don't really understand how the economics work for Electronic Arts.

"If you look at the history of the people investing in an MMO and achieving success, it's a small number."

EA has previously stated that it needs just 500k subscribers for the game to turn a profit – a claim questioned by analysts, who estimate that EA has spent upwards of $100m on developing the title.